First of all, as someone who has about no familiarity with baseball, every time I think of the new franchise I type/think “Kansas City Royals”. Just know I have proofread this before posting to make sure I don’t have it wrong anywhere 😂
I find the addition of this team VERY interesting for a few reasons.
They are based in Palm Beach
They must have paid a pretty penny to be in premier off the jump
They are being cheeky on twitter
Plenty of talent if you know where to look 👀
— #Palm Beach Royals (#@pbroyals)
8:31 PM • Aug 1, 2025
Others are commenting on their logo being AI generated, branding, blah blah blah. I don’t care much about that. This is interesting because … unless things change … there will be a new draft for players at the end of the season. You’re probably like… duh, Anna. Everyone knew that.
But think about it.
The Flash will be dropping one of Tyra Black, Jorja Johnson, or JW Johnson.
The Shock will be dropping one of me (Anna Bright), Gabe Tardio, or Hayden Patriquin.
Where do each of these six players live? PALM BEACH COUNTY. One can’t help but wonder if in their above tweet they meant… plenty of talent … right in their backyard. Really, the number of possible S-tier teams that could be formed solely with players from the Palm Beach area are endless. 👀👀👀
Palm Beach has become the pro pickleball mecca, and I think this franchise being located here AND paying to be in premier indicates they recognize a significant opportunity to have talent that actually is FROM the area to build a brand around. This is something that only the Utah Black Diamonds have been able to do. And the Diamonds are good, but a potential all Palm Beach team could very well be championship caliber, if they were willing to spend. Which I’d assume they are.
So, in summary, I think that the addition of THIS particular franchise means that teams will have to pay a lot more in this draft than they did in the last, and the MLP Offseason just got a LOT more expensive AND exciting for every team in the league.